The United States is the only developed country without laws providing paid maternity leave. The Labor Department is awarding half a million dollars to help feasible studies on new paid leave policies. See the accompanying video at our Maternity section.

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Expansion Overtime Pay

President Obama wants to review the overtime pay regulations. Several million fast-food managers, loan officers, computer technicians and others whom many businesses currently classify as “executive or professional” are exempt from overtime pay, because they earn $455 per week or more. Mr. Obama wants to increase that salary level, because the threshold of $455 is under today's poverty line for a worker to support a family of four. Find out more about who is covered or exempt for Overtime Pay.

Family Leave

More States Ban Paid Sick Leave Legislation

Ten states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Wisconsin — have passed laws that ban all cities and counties from enacting paid sick days bills, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

An increasing number of professionals are interested in opportunities outside the U.S. And it's not the typical globetrotter - young and unattached - looking for work overseas. So don't rule yourself out. Check here your Salary Overseas.

Are you entitled to overtime pay? If you are covered by the Fair Labor Standard Act your overtime pay can never be lower than your hourly rate! But: the act doesn't limit the total number of hours worked in overtime. Check your overtime pay rights.

There are exceptions to employment at will. Do you know your right on this part? You can't be terminated on basis of your race or gender. And 38 states regulate dismissals by so called implied contracts. Find out more at dismissal rights.

No College Degree? Better Paid Overseas!

03/03/15 - If you are a cook or a cleaner, move overseas. Jobs for which you do not necessarily need a college degree are often better paid in Europe, but if you are highly specialized or educated, you might want to stay in the U.S. For example I.T. consultants, journalists and medical specialists have a better salary in the U.S. compared to other countries. That is the outcome of Washington Post research, based on WageIndicator/Paywizard data. See also: Salaries Overseas and our Salary Calculator.

02/23/15 - “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s time to have wage equality once and for all. And equal rights for women in the United States of America.” Patricia Arquette called for wage, gender equality in a rousing, show stealing Oscar-speech - we love it!

02/19/15 - Walmart announced that 500,000 full-time and part-time associates, more than a third of its work force at WalmartU.S. stores and Sam's Clubs, will receive pay raises in April to at least $9 an hour. By next February 1, 2016 their pay will go to at least $10 an hour. Once the company's starting pay becomes $9 an hour in April, the average pay for full-time retail workers there will be about $13 an hour.

02/18/15 - The Obama administration is expected to move forward soon on its plan to provide overtime pay to low paid managers, who don't qualify for them. Currently under the federal law, if an employee makes at least $23,660 per year - or $455 per week - their employer doesn't have to pay them overtime. The new policy would raise that bar somewhere between $42,000 and $52,000. That would mean overtime pay for an estimated 3.5 million more workers.

Pay on Snow Days

If you are exempt from the FLSA, which means that you are salaried and not eligible for overtime, and the office closes because of heavy snow and/or state emergency your employer is required to pay you your normal salary, as long as you have worked in that workweek.Your employer may require the use of vacation time, paid time off or other accrued paid leave, but if there isn't any accrued paid leave, your employer still has to pay you. Your employer isn't required to pay if he/she is open for business and you have difficulty to come in - because the road is unsafe, or your children are still at home for a snow day. In that situation, if you don't have accrued paid leave he/she may take a deduction from your salary for the work missed. Another option is asking your employer, if possible, to work from home so no pay would be missed.If you are a nonexempt worker, which means eligible for overtime, and the office closes, your employer is not required to pay you according to the law. However if your employer closes the company during a working day, he/she does have to pay you for the hours you have worked. In some states employers have to pay their employees a minimum number of hours if they have reported for work. Please check the state laws on this.

The Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act will be replaced by the Parental Leave Act (PLA), effective April 7, 2015. The PLA provides eight weeks of unpaid leave for both men and women when giving birth, or for adoption of a child. Read more about the Parental Leave Act.

Obama Pushes Paid Sick Leave, Minimum Wage, Equal Pay

But will he succeed? President Obama used his State of the Union address to do 'The Right thing' for workers, but he made his case to a skeptical, Republican-controlled Congres that so far has blocked proposed reforms on paid sick leave, a higher minimum wage and equal pay.

01/12/15: You have the right to return to your job after a pregnancy related absence, according to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), but CNN's New Day anchor Kate Bolduan is permanently replaced while she was on maternity leave. Women at CNN are reportedly upset by this move. Read more about Maternity and Work.

Health and Safety: New Reporting Requirements

Starting January 1, 2015 your employer will be required to report all work-related fatalities within 8 hours and all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye within 24 hours of finding about the incident. Previously, employers were required to report all workplace fatalities and when three or more workers were hospitalized in the same incident. See more at the U.S. Department of Labor.

Almost 20 US cities passed their own paid sick leave ordinances that will provide private employees working in those cities with paid sick leave. Find here an overview of the latest approved city paid sick laws and the dates when they will become effective:

Best Paid Jobs for Women

02/10/15 - Careers in science, engineering, and healthcare dominate Forbes’ annual ranking of the best-paying jobs for women this year. Topping the list is sales engineer, followed by various math and science occupations, physicist and astronomer, and on the 4th place: nurse anaesthetist. Check their salaries with our Salary Calculator.

02/03/15 - Veterans have years of job experience and skills. They drove heavy equipment, supervised troops or did computer programming. All useful skills in the civilian workforce. The best jobs for them in 2015 according to Forbes: training and development manager, software engineer, construction program manager, administrative services manager, personal finance manager. But what are the salaries in those sectors? Find out with our salary calculator.

Home care worker, you might be covered for overtime pay, but there is a loophole, called the "companionship exemption"! Check at Paywizard if you are covered!

The rich more likely to get pay raise

01/19/15: Seventy percent of people earning more than $150,000 received their requested raise, while only 25 percent of those earning between $10,000 and $20,000 received the raise they asked for, according to PayScale's latest survey. Are you paid enough? Check our Salary Calculator.

Most Americans Living Paycheck to Paycheck

01/07/15: Americans are feeling better about the economy, but most have no savings to support those feelings. About 62% of Americans have no emergency savings for things like a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a recent survey by Bankrate.com. The findings are strikingly similar to a U.S. Federal Reserve survey of more than 4,000 adults released last year.

Massachusetts became the 3d state of the nation to guarantee paid sick leave, with voters approving on November 4th 2014 a sick-leave ballot initiative. Under the measure employees can earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, to be capped at 40 days of leave per calendar year, starting July 15, 2015. Small employers with 10 or fewer workers won't have to provide paid sick leave, but their employees could earn and use up to 40 hours of unpaid sick time. Read more about Massachusetts Paid Sick Leave.

The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 is the nation's second state-law mandate requiring paid sick leave. Connecticut signed the first paid sick leave into law in 2011. Effective July 1, 2015 California's law requires all employers to provide California employees (with some exceptions) with paid sick leave. See more at California Sick Leave.